MONEY- MAKING MONTHLY
Volume I Number 5 | June 2013 | $97
THE Monthly Magazine For Sharp Entrepreneurs
Stop Being Another ‘Me-Too’ Competitor Online By Yanik Silver Page 6
Excuses Are Like Armpits
Why Women Miss Out on Creating Passive Income By Loral Langemeier Page 13
By Steve Clark
Page 9
Expert Interview with Marketing Legend Joe Sugarman Page 1
ABOUT STEVE | JUNE 2013
About the Publisher, Steve Sipress
If you want to grow your business slowly – or just maintain it as is, you’ll have to do that all on your own. But if you want dramatic growth in your income and lifestyle, then Steve’s out-of-the-box and time-tested strategies and tactics could be the keys to your dreams. You can benefit from Steve’s coaching experience and expertise to revolutionize your business – yes, even in this challenging economy – at one of the many in-person entrepreneur events he hosts, OR from the comfort of your own home anywhere in the world. You can also learn basic and advanced direct response marketing strategies and tactics from 150+ hours of video instruction, plus use any or all of Steve’s multi-million-dollar, proven “done-for-you” marketing materials when you take advantage of his 30-days-for-only-$1 trial offer at SSSMarketingUniversity.com. That website has been called The Single Most Powerful Client Attraction Program Available Anywhere, and you could be using it to skyrocket your income anytime you want, 24/7, along with hundreds of other sharp, successful business leaders. Steve is a successful and award-winning serial entrepreneur, who has created and built nearly a dozen successful companies of his own, and he can help you do the same – more quickly and easily than you’ve ever imagined. In fact, you can immediately use plenty of his simple and powerful strategies and tactics that work especially well in this current frustrating economy! Steve is a celebrated author, speaker and business coach who has established profitable businesses and helped thousands of ambitious and aggressive business owners, entrepreneurs, executives and sales professionals all around the world. He has written numerous newsletters and articles on sales and marketing for a wide range of publications and has appeared on radio and television, helping millions of people along the way. If you want the very best, hard-hitting, no-nonsense, caring advice and help you can get, then “Straight-Talk Steve” could be exactly what you and your business need most. If you’re in the Midwest, you can meet other like-minded business people in person and learn from the world’s leading entrepreneur experts at one of Steve’s many “Chicagoland’s Sharpest Entrepreneurs” live events that he’s hosted since September 2008. You also have the chance to work with other entrepreneurs, business owners, executives and professionals like yourself who want to learn better, more effective ways to market their businesses and grow their in es, thanks to Steve’s online group and personal coaching programs. Whether you’re a current or future business superstar, Steve can help you get exactly where you want to go as quickly, easily and powerfully as YOU want – with massive results both short-term and long-term.
Pg II | Money-Making Monthly Magazine | www.SteveSipress.com
www.SteveSipress.com www.SSSMarketingUniversity.com www.Facebook.com/SmallBizHelp
www.Twitter.com/SteveSipress
“An Incredible Experience!” "When we first started, I was terribly in debt and we were just a few months away from bankruptcy. We started seeing a boost right away in our business, we took what Steve's given me and we just started implementing and implementing, and it's just totally transformed my business. Steve has helped me with my laser focus, he helps me implement, he's taken my business to a whole new level. We went from a half a million dollars to a million dollars in two years. It's just an incredible experience to know that where you think you're just dead and things are horrible, to now anything is possible. I can see taking this to a whole new three or four types of businesses -- it's going to be huge. Steve is all business, he is an unbelievably smart, brilliant man. I can't say enough about him. Everything he's told me, I've made so much money it doesn't matter what it costs. They don't make enough money in this world that somebody could pay me so I would stop listening to Steve. Steve is the exact reason why I have a retirement fund now. It's probably illegal how much fun I'm having!"
Jon Bockman
Owner, Bockman's Auto Care Sycamore, Illinois
INTERVIEW WITH JOE SUGARMAN: HOW TO BECOME A MASTER INFLUENCER | JUNE 2013
Interview with Joe Sugarman
How To Become
A Master Influencer
Steve Sipress: I’ve lived in Chicago for the past 12 years, and you’re originally from here. I consider you the greatest marketer ever to come out of Chicago, and it’s an absolute honor to be interviewing you for my magazine. Joe Sugarman: Thanks, Steve. It’s a pleasure to do this interview for you and your readers. Steve: I’ve worked with thousands of business owners over the past 30+ years, and even though they recognize the importance of excellent copywriting, they often tell me they just want to be able to wave a magic want and hire someone else to do all the copywriting for their business. What would your advice to them be? Joe: I can talk about my own experience. The business owner is the person who is really responsible. That person has to develop a concept that can sell. So, how do you do that? First of all, you have to be an expert in that particular product or service. Then you really have to write a lot, because the more you write, the better you get. The third thing is, you want to experience life, all kinds of challenges. The more you do, the more your brain is programmed to come up with really great ideas. Steve: Sounds like you’re pretty insistent that business owners shouldn’t outsource their copywriting. Joe: I think it’s a mistake to outsource copywriting. Let’s put it this way: If you have never written copy before and you need it written, I guess you can go to somebody who has had a lot of experience and a pretty good track record. But
chances are you’re going to have to pay them dearly. Very often, these people ask for a percentage of the sales or a percentage of the profit. But when you write that copy yourself, that’s a power that you cannot delegate. That’s because you are an expert in that product and you have a passion for it. It’s difficult to get somebody to write like they know your business like you do. You’re better off writing it yourself, and maybe it’s not perfect, but at least you get better every time you do it. Steve: We were both at en event in New York last year where Ariana Huffington spoke, and she said that all of her best ideas came when she was taking a walk or taking a shower or whatever. Is that similar to how you come up with your ideas when you write advertising or marketing copy?
I think it’s a mistake to outsource copywriting.
Joe: Yes, I remember when Ariana said that. That’s what I call the incubation process. She didn’t have a name for it; she just talked about the fact that that’s when she had her best ideas. What that really means to me is this: you try to solve a problem and you come up with an answer, or you don’t come up with an answer but you are trying hard to solve this particular problem. And what you need to do is forget about it. Walk away. Do something pleasurable. And while you’re doing that, believe it or not, your brain is working 24/7 to come up with a solution for that problem that you have, that you have given your brain the task of solving. And then all of a sudden, that idea will just come to you. And that is what I call the incubation process. Your brain is an incredible tool, and the better you program it, by the way I mention, you become an expert. You learn by writing and testing. I look at my first ads and I am embarrassed because they were so trite and so – I don’t know – so simplistic. But the more I wrote, the better my ads got. Steve: I study a lot of copywriters and read a lot of sales letters and ads. I always enjoy reading your ads, and I’m amazed how you can get me to enjoy them even though I have no interest in the particular product or service you’re writing about. What’s your secret for writing such compelling copy? Volume I Number 5 | Pg 1
INTERVIEW WITH JOE SUGARMAN: HOW TO BECOME A MASTER INFLUENCER | JUNE 2013
Joe: The way I look at it, the most important part of an ad is the first sentence. The purpose of a headline is to get someone to read the sub-headline. The purpose of the sub-headline is to get them to read the name of the company or the price point or something. But all of it is designed to get them to read that first sentence. That first sentence has got to be short, brief and build curiosity enough so that they will want to read the second sentence. The second sentence has to be strong enough so they read the third, the fourth and the fifth. And pretty soon, they’re sucked in and they’re reading that entire ad. So that’s the purpose of the first sentence. The purpose of all those other elements is to get them to read that first sentence. And they say that once you get someone to read the first two or three paragraphs, they’re going to read the whole ad. I had a funny example of that: A woman once called me and said, “Look, I just want you to know that I read your thermostat ad in its entirety. And I just want you to know that I had no interest in buying a thermostat. I just want to let you know that you’ve wasted a good 10 minutes of my time reading this ad that I had no interest in.” And then she hung up.
The way I look at it, the most important part of an ad is the first sentence.
Steve: Over 100 years ago, the great John E. Kennedy coined the phrase that advertising is “salesmanship in print.” Since you are one of the modern masters of advertising, what is the very best piece of advice you could give to any businessperson?
Sure enough, the single men’s black watch sold 30 percent more than the whole nine watches that we offered in the comparison ad. By the way, we ran these in an A/B split, so half the people getting it saw the watch ad that the company wanted, and half saw the watch ad that I wanted. And I proved that simplicity is so important. What you do is sell the one single men’s watch, which we did, and then you come out in your catalog with all the different models. But you don’t do that until you sell that first watch and make it very, very simple. You want to make it so simple that people can say yes or no, and not much more. Steve: You’re one of the most successful and most influential copywriters of all time. My favorite book of yours is “Triggers: 30 Sales Tools You Can Use to Control the Mind of Your Prospect to Motivate, Influence and Persuade.” Can you talk a little bit about what a trigger is and why it’s important to every business owner, entrepreneur, business executive and sales professional? Joe: A trigger is an underlying psychological reason that someone makes a buying decision. It’s what motivates them to take action. I uncovered the 30 triggers in my book as a result of my ability to sell products and services through my words. It’s estimated that 95 percent of the reasons prospects buy involve a subconscious decision. By understanding and effectively using these triggers online, offline and in face-to-face sales, you have the ability to double responses and take your sales beyond anything you’ve experienced.
Joe: Here’s one little piece of advice: Keep it simple. I was approached by the Swiss Army watch people. They wanted me to sell nine new watches that they had just come out with. One was a watch for men, another was a watch for women, the third was a watch for children, and there was a red model, black model and a khaki model – nine watches total. So I looked at all the watches and I said, “Well, I would like to sell the black one.” And they said that if I offered all nine, my ad would be appealing to a very broad market. I told them that I might be appealing to a broad market, but I wouldn’t be able to sell them. They didn’t get it, so I explained that you never want to offer too much at once. You want to make it a very simple offer. So I said we will run the same ad for all nine watches and for just the men’s black watch and let’s see what happens. Pg 2 | Money-Making Monthly Magazine | www.SteveSipress.com
INTERVIEW WITH JOE SUGARMAN: HOW TO BECOME A MASTER INFLUENCER | JUNE 2013
Steve: Okay, so there’s no doubt how powerful triggers can be when selling or persu ading others. Here’s my final question for you, Joe: Is there a trigger that businesspeople can use on themselves to become more successful? Joe: It’s interesting that you ask that, Steve. My cousin, who is a psychiatrist, was hired by the San Diego Chargers football team to find out what it took to be a superstar. In other words, they commissioned him to investigate the league as well as the team and come up with some conclusions. And what he came up with was the fact that there were two types of football players who were superstars. One was a deeply religious person, like Tim Tebow for example. The second was somebody with a huge ego. And when you think about it, both of these individuals had a very strong belief system. One was a belief in a higher power, and the other was a belief in himself. If you believe that you are going to be a success, there’s nothing that’s going to stop you. You will be a success. But if you don’t believe that you’re going to be a success, I can guarantee you that you won’t. Throughout my whole life, I felt that I was going to be a huge success, but things would get in the way of my success. However, I had this thing programmed in my mind that I was going to be very, very successful. And eventually, that came true. But believe me, I had a lot of failure in the interim. Regardless of what you’re selling, it’s amazing what belief will do. But you must genuinely believe it, and you’ve got to genuinely follow it.
About Joe Sugarman Joe Sugarman, once called the “Mail Order Maverick” by The New York Times, is a groundbreaker in every sense of the word. Early in his career, he defied the experts by developing his own style of advertising that not only produced spectacular results but started a new wave in direct response marketing. Sugarman’s style and his JS&A ads are legendary. His ads sold the world’s first pocket calculator, and later he introduced the cordless phone and the digital watch to the public as well. Sugarman also introduced the concept of using toll-free numbers to take credit card orders over the phone, which was unheard of at the time. After only one year of using toll-free numbers to process orders, thousands of other companies followed suit. This led to a revolution in the merchandising industry. Perhaps his biggest and best-known success is selling over twenty million pairs of BluBlockers sunglasses through multi-media marketing and advertising. He is famous for creating advertising that grabbed the reader’s attention and didn’t let go. In print ads that were motivational, entertaining and often educational, his copy enriched the lives of those who read his words. Sugarman has been highlyrecognized by his peers. He was named the Direct Marketing Man of the Year in 1979 and was awarded the distinguished Maxwell Sackheim Award in 1991 for his career contributions to direct marketing. He is a role model for many of the most successful people in the world of sales and marketing. Discover more about Joe Sugarman and his bestselling books at www.JoeSugarman.com. Volume I Number 5 | Pg 3
MANNY’S BLOG | JUNE 2013
Manny’s Blog
Let’s Visit ‘Hounddog’ Singer’s Hometown
It’s official: Steve and Michele are planning a much-needed vacation trip to…somewhere. I don’t really care about the destination, just as long as we have a really wild and crazy macho adventure – roughing it, taking risks, throwing caution to the wind. Gee, I hope I get to pack my favorite blankie. I must admit that when I was a pup, I had a hard time grasping the concept of “vacation.” Steve described a vacation as “getting away from it all.” But that sounded an awful lot like everyday life for a poor pooch. (“Manny, get away from the sofa!” “Manny, get away from the dinner!” “Manny, get away from the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator!”) It didn’t take me long to get into the swing of things though. Ah, I remember those travel songs when we’d hit a boring stretch of interstate highway. “99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer, take six down, pass ‘em around, 93 bottles of beer on the wall…” Okay, that version didn’t cover many miles; but, hey, you know that dogs are PACK animals. Whether we decide to go to the mountains or the seashore or an amusement park, I’m glad we have GPS in the car to help us find our way. I’m not good at folding maps. And I don’t fold laundry. In fact, the only time I fold is when I’m playing poker. Come to think of it, I’d have a lot more money for souvenirs if they ever came through with my residuals for posing for those paintings! Maybe we’ll partake of the best Mother Nature has to offer, such as the Sequoia National Forest or Carlsbad Caverns. Or the Grand Canyon! Yeah, that sight would fill me with awe and timeless questions: How long did it take to erode that canyon? How much water runs through it? How many days would it take the neighbors’ smelly cat to fill the whole thing with kitty litter? Perhaps instead of going to just one destination, we could make a culinary tour of the whole country. Mmmm…Maine
lobster, Philly Cheesesteak, New Orleans jambalaya, Texas fajitas…Of course we’d have to make some changes in our tourist attraction itinerary. Forget The World’s Largest Ball Of Aluminum Foil! Steer me to The World’s Largest Pack of Rolaids! Wait! Late-breaking news! I had the notion that we might tour presidential homes such as Monticello or Mount Vernon, but now I hear we might go to the home of “The King”! Yep, Graceland in Memphis! I’d better get my baritone in tune. If anyone will listen, I’ll do my own renditions of “Hunk’a Hunk’a Burnin’ Kibble,” “Return To Stick-Tosser,” and “Suspicious Behinds.” I can just hear the applause now. “Wagging my tail, wagging my tail very much.” Oops. Time to wrap up this article already. Manny has left the …Manny has left the…Hmph! You’d think if Elvis could afford to shoot the screen out of a TV, he could afford a simple doggie door!
Manny (full name “Emanuel” or “Dog With Us”) is Steve and Michele Sipress’ crazy, rambunctious cocker spaniel. He has a weak leg (despite a mostly-successful back surgery), grey hair, is totally deaf and partially blind. But he still enjoys barking at the mailman and landscapers, pulling dead frogs out of nearby ponds and chasing after his beloved squeaker toy. He loves everyone (even the mailman and landscapers), and everyone loves him.
Pg 4 | Money-Making Monthly Magazine | www.SteveSipress.com
MONEY MAKES YOU STUPID | JUNE 2013
Money Makes You Stupid I truly believe that money makes people stupid.
allow you to buy ads. But what if the ads don’t work?
In writing the book, The Million Dollar Equation: How to Build a Million Dollar Business in 3 Years or Less, I looked back at building my business and came up with some essential lessons about starting a business without loans or investments.
MDE Lesson #4: Start with your target market.
Here is the most important MDE (Million Dollar Equation) Lesson #1: If you’re not able to make money in your business without outside funding, you’re not going to be able to make money when you get that loan or investment. Harsh words, but let’s break down what were you going to use the money for? To pay yourself? MDE Lesson #2: If you are getting a loan to pay yourself, you are not ready to be an entrepreneur. Your pay should be directly proportionate to revenue produced. This is one of the reasons why we become entrepreneurs — to reap the benefits of big sales. And every person you hire should be held to the same requirements. All employees. Period. MDE Lesson #3: Spend money only when more revenue is ensured. Let me be frank – money is not guaranteed to get you a customer. It can
The local newspaper made me an inexpensive offer to advertise every day of the week, however, my creditchallenged customers did not read the newspaper. If you plan to use free Internet marketing, make sure your customers are online. It did not matter how inexpensive the ad, if my target market did not see it … I was screwed! MDE Lesson #5: Make sure that you’re speaking directly to your target market. I targeted customers who were credit challenged and who had their telephone service previously disconnected. Therefore all marketing images and words specifically targeted those people. MDE Lesson #6: Everything should be tested in small amounts, then results rule. Never sign one-year agreements for marketing media, even if it costs double to take a shorter agreement. The price is not your concern. Your concern is testing to see if the media is right for your target audience, to see if your offer
By Richelle Shaw
brings in enough customers to produce an amount more than you paid (ROI – Return on Investment) and to determine if you should invest more. If you need capital to create your product, you can get a few manufactured to demonstrate how it works, then sell an order based on the “prototype.” Once you have an order, then, you are allowed to get a loan to pay for the manufacturing of the product. MDE Lesson #7: Money is only for investing in proven systems, ads and products. For example, if you sold your product to Wal-Mart, and it will be on their shelves, now, you are allowed to use the money to fill the order. You have tested a small ad in your local paper for one issue. Customers are coming in buying products. Now, you can use money to buy more ads in the paper. MDE Lesson #8: Until your business has made a profit for three consecutive years, you are not allowed to buy an asset unless it appreciates or the asset will directly drive revenue. I watch entrepreneurs who purchase a new car, house or boat as soon as they sign a new client. YIKES! And soon, they are in trouble. Resist the inclination to spend your cash.
For many years, Richelle Shaw was the only female African American public utility owner in the United States. She built her first business from $300,000 to $36 million, lost it all after the 9/11 tragedies and then rebuilt her million dollar business in about six months. Her first book, How to Build A Million Dollar Business in Las Vegas – Without the Casinos chronicled her story. Richelle’s latest book, The Million Dollar Equation – How to Build A Million Dollar Business in 3 Years or Less, gives entrepreneurs a step-by-step blueprint for reaching the million-dollar level. www.RichelleShaw.com
Volume I Number 5 | Pg 5
STOP! BEING ANOTHER ‘ME-TOO’ COMPETITOR ONLINE | JUNE 2013
STOP
Being Another ‘Me-Too’
Competitor Online
By Yanik Silver Nearly everyone I talk to wants to know the big “secret” to success online. They want the next Internet marketing tactic, strategy or quick fix. But that’s usually not the critical factor… I’ve found tremendous success by putting a ‘spin’ on successful models. In fact, I find it better to work with two or three successful models and pull them together. If your product/ service is simply a “me-too” there is no point in being in the marketplace. You have to bring some point of differentiation to the table. (And it definitely cannot be just price.) When I created Instant Sales Letters in 2000 – there were all kinds of other sales letter templates books (real ones) out there, and there were copywriting courses but there was nothing that really let you ‘cut and paste’ to create the letter easily. I’m a firm believer in giving people the “fish” anytime I can. What I mean is, people would rather be handed the fish than taught how to fish. The closer you can get to the ‘magic pill’ the better your sales will be if the offer is believable. Another example is my own Apprentice program (yes, well before Trump!). There were a whole lot of mentor or protégé programs floating around but once again I decided if I were going to do something – I’d do it differently. I wanted to keep the numbers small and personal (instead of just making a mass telecoaching program like some other people who promise individual attention). I really wanted to have a big impact on the Apprentices I accepted and get people to take action or to new levels if they were already successful. (In fact, I won a $100 gentleman’s bet with Dan Kennedy because I got the majority of my group to make a profit.) The big twist was I’d give Apprentices one of my ideas out of my idea journal, they’d be allowed to promote (if appropriate) to my list and my affiliate list. And we’d jointly share in the profits with them keeping 78% and me getting 12% of the gross sales. This program was so good it was overbooked almost right away. And the final example from my own business is my “Underground Online Seminar.”Don’t you think there are more than enough Internet seminars going on all over the place? Some
good. Some, not so good. It’s real tough to create a stir in the Internet space unless you have something different. Which is exactly why I didn’t want to do another ‘same-ole’ Internet seminar. My big hook (which was true) is I bring in “Underground” and unknown speakers who were really making it in the real world online. It wasn’t the same usual suspects you’d see at other events. I took it all the way with making a promotional ‘spy’ themed to stand out. Sure, some people emailed us and said it was silly. But a lot more people got into it because it was different. It really worked! The first three Underground Online Seminar was extremely successful and completely sold-out weeks before the event took place. So your job is to stand out and give people a reason (hopefully, a big one) to buy from you. One logical way of doing this is something I taught my Apprentices. It’s to make a spreadsheet of what every competitor is offering and how they are positioned in the marketplace. Look for their offers, their headline, their pricing, their guarantee, their USP, etc and then decide where you can leverage a differentiation point. This gives you a more precise way of looking for “gaps” in your competitors marketing. And the bigger the gap or the more you really show people how your offer is different than the better you’ll do. It’s too easy to be another ‘me-too’. Why would a customer buy from you? Frankly, there aren’t too many niches where nobody is selling anything in there and you can be the only one. In most cases you’re going to find competitors (and that’s a good thing because it proves the marketplace spends money).
Here is a quick summary thoughts on how to be different and unique: 1. Be first in the marketplace. Easier said than done today but still very possible if you niche. Obviously you can’t be the first site to sell flowers online, but if you are BestTropicals.com, you were the first to sell Hawaiian flowers exclusively. You can cut up the marketplace and become the first at something.
Pg 6 | Money-Making Monthly Magazine | www.SteveSipress.com
STOP! BEING ANOTHER ‘ME-TOO’ COMPETITOR ONLINE | JUNE 2013
So you r job is to sta nd out an d give peo ple a rea son
(hopefu lly, a big on e) to buy from you.
2. Take existing success models/products and combine together. This is one of my favorites because you’re profiting from multiple successful and proven sources. 3. Take an existing successful product/service and add a twist to it. My apprentice program is a good example of that. 4. Give it a new name. I’ve done this many times with products I’ve licensed that have seen better days. 5. Change the location. If you see a successful business model in one place it can typically be transferred to another location, format, etc. Good example of this is Steve Pankhurst who developed www.friendsreunited.co.uk. He
saw a site in the US doing very well able to track down friends, etc. (probably Classmates.com), and he couldn’t believe they hadn’t expanded it to the UK or beyond. Since it’s launch in 1999, Friends Reunited has become one of the most popular websites on the ’net, attracting over 10 million members. And finally the big idea is not to think every great idea or website has already been created or done. That’s the attitude of losers! Today, you’ve got even more opportunity because the Internet is an established commerce model and more and more people are getting comfortable making purchases online. It truly is the best time in the world to start or grow your online business!
Yanik Silver is a serial entrepreneur although he still considers himself a ‘techno dunce’. Starting from his one-bedroom apartment and with just a few hundred dollars, Yanik has built multiple 7-figure businesses. He is the author, co-author or publisher of several best-selling marketing books and tools including Moonlighting on the Internet, Instant Sales Letters® & 34 Rules for Maverick Entrepreneurs. Yanik is a highly sought after speaker addressing groups ranging from the prestigious Wharton Business School to international audiences of 3,000+. Currently his most important mission is impacting 1,000,000 young entrepreneurs (ages 13-23) to start or grow their business by 2020.
About Yanik Silver
For a limited time, Yanik is offering a super-special deal on the recordings of his Underground 9 event and/or tickets to Underground X: www.UGevent.com Volume I Number 5 | Pg 7
ULTIMATE ENTREPRENEUR | JUNE 2013
- I. X. Agerate -
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“I was asked to write a blurb about this book, but I didn’t have time in between reading an endless stream of tweets from people I’ve never heard of, checking the Facebook updates of all my fake friends and watching hours of YouTube videos of cats chasing their own tails.” - Dee Stracted Pg 8 | Money-Making Monthly Magazine | www.SteveSipress.com
EXCUSES ARE LIKE ARMPITS... | JUNE 2013
Excuses Are Like Armpits....... Warning! This is a strong message meant for mature adults. If you are easily offended quit reading now. This month we had several people quit our Inner Circle Coaching program and cancel their subscription to our newsletter. Here are some of the lame excuses they gave for quitting… “I‘ve got lots going on, and I need to suspend my membership for awhile.”“I would like to cancel my subscription at least until I can better fit it into my schedule.” “I need to cancel my sales training membership and implement what I have already learned.” “I need to cancel because I can’t keep up with all the information I am receiving but I hope to re-enlist at some point in the near future.” All I can say is horse feathers! A quitter is a quitter. Quitting, like losing, is a habit. Once you quit ANYTHING, it becomes easier to quit the next thing and the next thing. Before you know it, you have unconsciously developed a habit of quitting. There are many reasons that only 5% of Americans make over $250,000 a year. Quitting and making excuses is not one of them. I have only quit one thing in my life. During my junior year in high school, I quit the baseball team because I got pissed at the coach for not starting me in the opening game. It was one of the worst mistakes I ever made, and it may have cost me a college baseball scholarship. I have never quit anything since. In the summer of 1972, I started U.S. Marine Corps Officer Candidate School at Quantico, Virginia. It was THE most mentally and physically
Some are large and some are small, but they all
stink.
grueling thing I have ever done, and I wanted to quit many times. We started with 55 men in my platoon. At the end of 5 weeks, those of us who were still there were given the opportunity to quit and go home and enjoy the rest of our summer. Even though I had already decided that I would not accept my commission at the end of the ten weeks, I sucked it up and stuck it out for 5 more weeks because I am not a quitter. Best decision I ever made. Bottom line – at the end of ten weeks only 23 of us graduated. I have never felt better about myself — before or since. Those who make excuses aren’t successful and they wonder why. They say things like, “Once I get my business up to a certain level THEN I’ll invest in sales training resources or attend sales training classes.” That’s backwards! You can’t say, “As soon as this fireplace produces some heat… then I’ll add in some wood.” It doesn’t work that way. Never has, never will. Those sales professionals that commit and invest in sales training for themselves and their business are the ones that rise to the top. What type of person are you? EVERY successful person I EVER MET did not make excuses about anything. Period! Do you have an excuse for not doing the things you should be doing to grow your business? Do you have an excuse for canceling that membership or that subscription? I’m guessing you aren’t one of the ones making excuses because if you read this far - you are NOT a quitter.
Steve Clark aka, “The Sales Psychologist”, is the founder and CEO of New School Selling, an international business development and marketing consulting firm. He is the author of ‘Profitable Persuasion - Proven Strategies for Sales and Marketing Success’ and the co-author of “The Ultimate Success Secret” with marketing guru Dan Kennedy. To take a FREE Sales Quiz, and receive a customized personal analysis of your sales skills plus a set of 6 FREE Sales Training CDs go to www.SteveClarkFreeOffer.com.
Volume I Number 5 | Pg 9
YOUR BUSINESS WOULD BE BETTER IF YOUR BRAND WAS BETTER | JUNE 2013
Your Business Would be Better if Your Brand was Better By: David T. Fagan A “Brand” is the sum total of all the experiences people have had with any person, place or thing (products and organizations are things). Yes, people and places have brands, too. Obama has a brand, Vegas has a brand, Mother Theresa has a brand, Miami has a brand, Elvis has a brand, and even China has a brand. These brands were built over time based on what the majority of people experienced. Of course, key people and media with big megaphones can also overshadow what the majority feels. That’s why endorsements, celebrity spokespeople, commercials and regular media appearances are so valuable. So what is your brand? What are people experiencing with you, your products or your organization? Your business would be better if your brand was better. For
this to happen you have to go out of your way to interact with people everywhere, you have to share, you have to give, you have to serve and, above all, you have to stand out from the crowd. You must interest people and more importantly you must fascinate people. Sometimes this requires you to be controversial or even to shock people. Other times you will have to share personal stories and experiences. New concepts, strong communication and the cool factor all go a long way in developing a strong brand. The method combination you need all depends on what you want your brand to be. People are buying your brand. Again, whether you like it or not, people are buying your brand. So what are people buying from you?
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YOUR BUSINESS WOULD BE BETTER IF YOUR BRAND WAS BETTER | JUNE 2013
I’ve dedicated years of my life to making people, places and things, Icons in their industry. Here is the best of what I have learned about Icon Building packaged in a really easy “Top 3 To Do” checklist of things you can do day-in and day-out that will make you more profitable. 1. Build a Golden Rolodex – Wow influential people who have a strong following. Keep their contact info handy and review your top 50-100 people weekly. I like to keep the best ones on a highly visible whiteboard in my office. Break these people up into categories. Focus on the ones that have their own radio shows, TV shows or large email databases. Don’t forget those people that have high amounts of traffic to their websites, thousands of Facebook friends, Twitter followers and Linkedin connections. Do whatever you can to add value to their life. This one thing has helped positively promote and control the destiny as well as the profitability of my business more than anything else. 2. Develop Your Core Stories – People as a majority want to know your story, the story of your organization or the stories of your customers or clients. You must record these stories, testimonials and case studies. This personal approach and social proof goes a long way toward inviting people to experience your movement. More than ever people want an organization with personality and heart. People don’t want cold, heartless organizations that they can’t relate too. Video, audio, articles, blogs, social media postings and Power Point presentations can all help you convey these core stories.
you have to go out of your way to interact with people everywhere, you have to share, you have to give, you have to serve and, above all, you have to stand out from the crowd.
3. Manage Your Online Reputation – More than ever people go to the Internet to learn about you, your products and your organization. The good news is that it is very easy for you to put out great things on the Internet … especially if you are doing numbers 1 and 2 well. The bad news is that it is relatively easy for people to say bad things about you, your products and your organization … even if they are not true. You must continually communicate online and research yourself like anyone else might. The world is quickly transitioning from everyone needing a website to everyone needing a really good website that is an interactive, ongoing commercial, stocked full of social proof and cutting-edge technology and automation. BEWARE! All three of these things are part of an ongoing journey and never a destination. Companies, organizations, people and places with once stellar reputations for decades can all face an irreparable disaster overnight.
Just remember, if you want to improve your business, just improve your brand! David T. Fagan is the former CEO of Guerrilla Marketing and founder of Icon Builder Media. An author or co-author of six books, including How to Raise an Entrepreneur and Guerrilla Rainmakers with Jay Conrad Levinson, Fagan runs his own marketing and business development company at www.IconBuilderMedia.com . Fagan is known as an expert in marketing, media and business development, hosts a regular radio show called “Entrepreneur 101,” and has appeared on the television show “American Real Estate, What’s Next?” For details of David’s upcoming events in Los Angeles and Phoenix, go to: www.IconMindsetAndMarketingConference.com
Volume I Number 5 | Pg 11
EVENT - MILLIONAIRE SUCCESS SECRETS | JUNE 2013
The Chicagoland Entrepreneur Event Of The Summer…
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WHY WOMEN MISS OUT ON CREATIVE PASSIVE INCOME | JUNE 2013
Why Women Miss Out on Creating Passive Income Millionaire Maker Loral Langemeier says Women Investors Must be More Aggressive
Loral Langemeier has two words for successful businesswomen looking for financial freedom: “Man up!” Langemeier, known as the “Millionaire Maker” and founder of the coaching and seminar company Live Out Loud, says even high-achieving women entrepreneurs miss opportunities to create passive income streams for themselves because their investing style is different than that of their male counterparts. “Women are starting more small businesses than men, but even savvy women who have built successful enterprises tend to reinvest excess cash back into their own business or use it to make purchases for their homes and families,” says Langemeier. “Men, on the other hand, are more likely to be aggressive investors. And right now, in this business cycle, those who take advantage of opportunities stand to make significant gains.” Unlocking the secrets to making cash and making cash work is second nature to Langemeier. Growing up on a family farm, she started her first business while in high school, despite having no financial skills. But she quickly learned. Retraining herself to believe that “money comes easily and frequently,” she amassed a multi-million-dollar portfolio of properties, businesses, energy investments and notes by the time she was 34. Ten years ago she founded Live Out Loud so she could share her insights with others and, perhaps more importantly, help them remove the roadblocks they have placed between themselves and financial opportunities. Langemeier and the staff of Live Out Loud have served tens of thousands of individuals worldwide and created thousands of millionaires. Through one-on-one coaching, workshops, courses, and a wide
Tapping into Loral Langemeier’s secrets to creating wealth is as easy as attending a workshop or taking a course through Live Out Loud. Topics are available for eager individuals at every level, whether being an entrepreneur is still your dream or if you need help transforming your existing business into a moneymaking machine. Visit www.LiveOutLoud.com for a schedule of events. Attendees will receive Loral’s Money investing rules and each adult may bring a teenaged child to begin their first steps toward financial literacy
range of books and DVDs, Langemeier’s advice is both intense and practical. She lavishes individuals with a combination of innovative business solutions that spur cash creation and profoundly personal advice that unlocks energy and sparks enthusiasm. What is Langemeier advice for women investors now? “This is the greatest economy we’ve ever had for building wealth. The high rate of business foreclosures, devalued real estate, and low interest rates make assets cheap to acquire. If your current business is making money, put the cash to work by buying and flipping distressed properties and companies,” she says. “But this climate won’t last long. Escalating interest rates and inflation are inevitable. If you have liquid assets now, why aren’t you playing?” Volume I Number 5 | Pg 13
MONEY-MAKING MONTHLY Volume I Number 5 | June 2013
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FEATURE ARTICLE
This Month’s Money-Making Info
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How to Become a Master Influencer
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Interview with Joe Sugarman
Let’s Visit ‘Hounddog’ Singer’s Hometown
Steve Clark
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Manny’s Blog
Money Makes You Stupid Richelle Shaw
Stop Being Another ‘MeToo’ Competitor Online
Excuses Are LIke Armpits Your Business Would be Better if Your Brand was Better David T. Fagan
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Why Women Miss Out on Creating Passive Income Loral Langemeier
Yanik Silver Publisher & Editor Steve Sipress Successful Selling Systems, Inc. 869 E Schaumburg Rd #237 Schaumburg, IL 60194 (p) 773-236-8134 (f ) 847-232-1535 Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
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